Tag: gelato

Short review today! It might be a bit cold for ice cream in Switzerland (first snow of this winter has fallen!). However, if you happen to be in Athens (now, or when it is actual ice cream weather) I can recommend Ice Queen Gelato!

This ice cream shop has several vegan gelato flavours, even beyond the standard sorbets. And, while they do not have vegan cones, but they do have both vegan (bubble) waffles and vegan crêpes. They also serve drinks, like smoothies and coffee (according to HappyCow they serve soy milk). I believe they also sell some other snacks.

Pretty Athens

Since Ice Queen Gelato was conveniently located near where I was staying in Athens, of course I tried both these versions. Like most gelato places, there is a small terrace where you can sit and eat, which was specifically useful in the case of the crêpes 🙂 But the waffles and ice creams are of course more portable.

Vegan ice cream flavours

The first time we visited I tried a crêpe with banana, vegan chocolate sauce and the vegan coconut ice cream. The crêpes are made with an actual crêpe maker, and they were thin like the non-vegan crêpes I remember. The ice cream itself was very good and creamy. I haven’t seen crêpes being offered as ice cream ‘vehicles’ often, but it works great.

Crêpe with ice cream with vegan chocolate sauce ❤

Ice Queen Gelato has both standard and bubble waffles, and since I never tried the latter, I made plans to return to try these special waffles!

I tried a bubble waffle with vegan hazelnut praliné, again banana (gotta get your 2 pieces of fruit per day in!) and a scoop of vegan ice cream. I have read that in some bubble waffle versions the bubbles contain sauce, that was not the case here. The waffles are a bit more tricky to eat than from a standard cone, but so, so good!

Bubble waffle with ice cream and hazelnut praline sauce!

The staff was friendly, and the service good. The first time we visited they were almost closing, but they were still willing to fire up the crêpe maker (which was already turned off for the day) to provide us with vegan crêpes. Can recommend!

Another day in Venice, another gelato ! Gelato Fantasy was quite busy when we visited and I can see why. They have a lot of interesting flavours like peanut butter and cheese cake, but most are unfortunately not vegan. They do have several vegan options, like raspberry, lemon and dark chocolate. (There’s also crêpes available but I didn’t inquire about those)

A sample of the flavours available, including several vegan ones!

I asked about whether the cones were vegan and was informed the standard cones are not, however they do have vegan cones. I really like cones so I am always happy when vegan cones are available!

The staff knows about veganism (nice, saves time explaining) and they are also knowledgeable about allergies; I was asked if I was vegan or allergic, and was explained that in the latter case they’d explain potential cross-contamination.

In October the temperatures in Venice were still nice enough to enjoy a gelato. Fortunately there is no lack of gelato counters.

In general the fruity, sorbet-style ice cream has a higher possibility of being vegan, since it is water-based, whereas the creamy flavours tend to be milk-based. In general the cones are not vegan. But it never hurts to ask to be sure; I found that occasionally the fruity flavours still contained milk.

Gelato Di Natura in Venice

Gelato Di Natura actually mentions on their shop window that they have vegan options. So I had to pop in to verify, of course 🙂 There are several vegan flavours available and their cones were vegan! What was specifically nice was that there was also a creamy flavour (cherry) which was vegan. It was made with either rice or soy milk.

We got raspberry/mango/cherry and cherry/dark chocolate !

As an aside, I was a bit surprised that when I asked if the cones were vegan, I got informed it was but that it was not gluten-free. For me veganism and gluten-free eating are completely separate things. Gluten-free is for people with allergies, whereas people that eat vegan do not necessarily have allergies but rather choose to eat animal-free. Anyway, I do not know enough about gluten to know if it naturally appears in ice cream, but if it is something you want to avoid ask the staff about the gluten-free options available.

I understand from their website Gelato di Natura also has counters in Palma de Mallorca (Spain) and Dublin (Ireland), and soon in Denmark!